Advice on coming up with surnames needed

[The Marquis de Leech]

So, Titus Peake might work,

I actually cringed when I read that name in ASOIAF. Shout-outs are fine, but when they're that blatant, it gets off-putting.

[The Grey Wolf]

Flinn, my answer would obviously be yes [i wouldn't have made this thread otherwise] but like I said in my original post I am not currently writing the novel for which I am asking advice for because I admittedly don't have the skills yet. I am currently writing a novel [and already planning two more, you know learning/mastering the craft] but the one for which I made this thread is my dream magnum opus [started world-building recently] and since I don't have any helpful contacts in my physical life to turn to I thought maybe someone on the forums could give me a few pointers on one of my particular sore points [surnames], and as it has turned out more than one person has given me safe and reliable advice. Anyway, what gave you the impression I might not have the imagination necessary to write a novel? I'm curious. Oh, and Roose Bolton's pet leech the only thing I can say to that is everyone has different tastes. [Otherwise we wouldn't have dozens of threads dedicated to vivisecting every single thought, word, and action of characters like Stannis, Tyrion, and Catelyn.]

[Nacht en Ontij]

Or use little-known Latin/Roman names and work from there. For example, look into the consular lists, especially those people before 300 BCE.

Also, most noble people had a surname based on location rather than occupation or deed.

I think you have to use your imagination a bit more.

[naz]

Are you sure you have the imagination to write novels?

Are you sure you have the imagination to be a douchebag on internet forums?

[The Grey Wolf]

I'll look into those consular lists, Nacht. Thanks. [using my imagination...Well, if that's what it takes I'll do it. It can't be hard to come up with something as outlandish as Targaryen right?]

[Weeping Sore]

Steal. I've got a lot of books with character and cast lists from early Hollywood. You get a nice mix of English and Germanic names.

[The Grey Wolf]

Mind sending me the names of the books Vlad [no impaled bodies attached please]?

[Galactus]

It should be noted that most people didn't actually have surnames until quite recently.

There tends to be a couple of basic cases though:

1. Professions: These can either be direct names (Cooper, Fuller, Smith) or names associated with the trade (in Sweden, in order to distinguish soldiers they tended to be given surnames like "Sword", "Quick", "Brave" etc.)

2. Familial connections. These can be patronymics ("Svensson") Matronymic ("Olavsdottir") or refer to some notable ancestor ("Timurid") Some arabic names go to great lengths in this, becoming almost genealogies ("Bob son of George, father of his son David and his daughter Sheryl, from the Smith family out of Worcestershire." to use an anglciized version) Spanish nobility also had a tendency to accumulate names this way.

3. Locations. Could be towns, hills, places where you live, or countries the family originated from. Nobility often had names of property they held. (Eg. William de Normandie, Maurice de Saxe) although note that they might have lost those territories in the interim but still kept the surname.

4. Changes to these base forms due to different languages. Eg. it was common to "latinize" names, and also to "frenchify" them, even if they weren't originally french or latin names, due to the high prestige of these languages. Eg. the family from the small village of Nöbbelöv changed their names to the more-latin sounding Nobelius, and later to the french-sounding Nobel...

5. A lot of people had personal signifiers, these could often be turned into surnames. (Eg. the original Bob Strong had sons, who were all named Strong despite not being so)

6. A peculiarity of swedish nobility is the tendency to take surnames based on their coat of arms. (or match the coat of arms with the surname, as was the case later on) most of the older swedish nobility have names like this. ("Bielke" is a horisontal bar, "Sparre" means "Chevron")

[The Grey Wolf]

Thanks for the list of classification Galactus. Did bastards have last names like they do in ASOIAF [should I give them last names too] because sometimes when I read European History and read about the bastards of nobles it seems a lot different than Westeros in that bastards are far less ostracized and they [according to my knowledge] can inherit.

[red snow]

I was just wondering why you aren't setting your story in Medieval Europe? You seem to be chaining yourself to real-world trends of that time to the point you may as well just set it there. If it's a fantasy setting take advantage of the fact and liberate yourself a little. It's fine to have things feel genuine but you can do that without it being exactly like medieval Europe.

EDIT: Or did i misread your OP and that it is a fantasy set in Medieval Europe? In which case, fair enough.

[Ormond]

_{Well of course one thing you should do is invest in a good surname dictionary such as:}

_{http://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-English-Surnames-Paperback-Reference/dp/0192806637/ref=sr_1_1_title_1_pap?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376576869&sr=1-1&keywords=reaney+wilson}

[The Grey Wolf]

No, you didn't misread, Red Snow. The continent [well of them anyway] is based off Medieval Europe [kingdoms, kings, lords, knights, and the peasants all taking the crap] but it is in no way Europe. Its just I'm currently having a hard time deciding just how much magic to put into the series. I don't want have Magic-Galore the way I've heard series' like Malazan do but I want to have more than Martin does. I guess that's why I'm focusing more on the realism right now because that's something I don't really need to think about in terms of how much do I want my story to resemble real-life. [As far as I'm concerned if magic existed history and society would be more bloody and glorious and absurd than it already is. That's sort of one of the ideas I want to focus on in my novel besides typical stuff like war and family.]

[The Grey Wolf]

They have surname dictionaries? [Facepalm.]

[BlueEyedCrow]

Just remember, there was Tony Stark before House Stark.

[The Grey Wolf]

Your right BlueEyedCrow but because the two are so different no one bothers to point it out just like there was Castamir the Usurper before the Reynes of Castemere [which is addicting]. I wish I could use a term like "maester" [which I like a lot] similarly. You know same/similar spelling, different context because I have a concept that the term would fit like a glove. In fact, that's one of the things I like most about ASOIAF and one of the things I am struggling with, which is the fact that a lot of the terms are either simple or descriptive [examples-Castles-River-Run, Winter-Fell, Gull-Town, Wild-Fire]. Still, your reminder is welcome and by the way I like your picture but where is the RedEyedCrow?

[Myrddin]

Good luck with your writing endeavors. You're right in that it will take a lot of research to get history, naming conventions, and grammatical structure correct. [Try no to over do the parenthetical inserts, though. They get hard to read when inserted into large blocks of text.] Don't focus too much on world building and forget to study the craft of story structure and writing. I spent too many years building when I should've been writing. Now, I'm just not writing.....

[The Grey Wolf]

Thanks for the encouragement Myrddin.

[naz]

Yeah, I second the encouragement. And try to ignore idiots who question your imagination. I think you're going about it the right way... doing research and thinking things through. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[Persicaria]

You've got some pretty good advice so far on where to look. You can also check out genealogical lists to get more ideas, but some names are bound to be more modern then others. Also, some surnames can be found in very different parts of the world but with minor variations. My own surname for instance is very similar to an Austrian and Polish surname (apparently the name means shoe cobbler, but I have no idea who in my family ever made shoes). The only thing I think that explains this is that my ancestors lived in a territory occupied by the Austrian-Hungarian empire. So don't be afraid to take common names and give them a little twist. Just don't forget to write every now and then. It's sad to say given my horrible grammar, but I used to dream of being an author. I could never get anything down though because I would always get stuck in the planning phase. By the time I started to workout all the kinks, I no longer felt compelled by the characters who originally inspired the story.

[The Grey Wolf]

Really appreciate it Naz. Like your picture too by the way. At the moment I'm just brainstorming, researching, world-building, and reading other fantasy to have a wider pool of ideas and inspirations to pick from because I know I don't have the skills yet to write it the way I want to. On the other hand that doesn't mean I'm not going to practice. My first novel [currently writing] is a children's novel that talks about a girl who finds a magic mirror that takes her to another world [the twist being the atypical third main character and hopefully my sense of humor]. After that I plan to write another children's novel, which I always imagine to be similar to classics like Narnia. In fact, I wrote the introduction for this second novel in a flash of inspiration and I can honestly say I would never change it. My third planned novel though is interesting because it is going to be epic fantasy but with a rather atypical setting and in that it will serious themes feature violence, moral ambiguity and religion aimed at adults. My fourth one is on the surface similar to the premise of Mark Lawrence's Broken Empire trilogy [which I'm planning on buying soon] but I can't say anymore. Besides that I have a few ideas to do an epic steampunk series in which magic is used as an energy source/commodity and have some ideas of a timeline already too. So overall I've got plenty to keep me busy/prepare for the moment when I get started on the story for which this thread was made [i'm thinking of calling the first book "The Court of Lions"]. Persicaria, there are some days where I feel uncompelled and like I don't want to write too [i'm currently working at consistently writing everyday at least something] but I don't plan on giving up. The image in my head of seeing a best-selling book on a shelf in a store like Barnes & Noble that everyone loves is too compelling. That and the fact the characters in my head demand they have their tale told or else they'll make my life miserable. Seriously, though, positive thoughts everyone. The world's there to do the negative for you for free.